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ICA and the PFD Research Foundation, the American Urogynecologic Society’s (AUGS) Foundation, established a joint IC/PBS research grant in 2013. The first recipient of the grant, Dr. Melinda Abernethy of The Johns Hopkins University, in her study entitled, Measurable biological differences in the urinary microbiota and in the urinary cytokine milieu will correlate with symptom severity in women with IC/PBS, has found that urine samples from patients with IC/PBS may be associated with higher MDC and Interleukin 4 (IL-4) levels and were less likely to have lactobacillus compared to controls. Further research is needed to determine if the presence of lactobacillus in the urine protects against the development and/or progression of IC/PBS, and the relationship between the urinary microbiome and cytokine production.